Chris Marentis
Founder and CEO of Surefire Social

For nearly three decades, Chris Marentis, Founder and CEO of Surefire Social, has been responsible for driving innovation and sales growth for large media and e-commerce brands as well as start-ups. With a long-history of counseling local businesses about their marketing efforts, Marentis provides insight on what it takes for small businesses to succeed and thrive in today's evolving digital environment. His notable career includes creating the foundational blueprints for online marketing, e-commerce and content branding for AOL's Interactive Marketing group, where he served as Senior Vice President. While CEO of Clearspring Technologies, Marentis developed one of the most widely adopted venture-backed Web 2.0 technology platforms. Marentis is a frequent speaker at local digital marketing conferences and a contributor to SMB and technology-focused publications.

Building high growth businesses in very competitive markets using a combination of traditional and new media and marketing techniques.

Powerful, low-cost technologies (including web services, cloud computing, semantic web and AJAX)--combined with new techniques like crowd sourcing, viral marketing, social media, educational marketing and search engine marketing--have completely disrupted existing media and marketing models. New rules are in place for winning in this environment, and new brands and media channels will be created to displace existing brands.

Chris and GenNext Media understand this new world well because he helped create it.

Chris attended Clarkson University in Potsdam New York and graduated in 1981 with a Bachelor of Science Degree.

Chris is the former CEO of Clearspring Technologies, one of the most widely adopted venture-backed Web 2.0 technology platform companies in the world.

During the Web 1.0 boom, Chris led the industry as Senior Vice President of America Online's (AOL) Interactive Marketing group. Working with some of the world's most progressive and successful companies, Chris and the AOL interactive marketing team created the blueprint for online marketing, ecommerce and content branding in the new medium.

Chris is a serial entrepreneur successfully leading four start-up companies raising over $25 million in capital. He is currently an active investor and board member of Innovative Energy Group and investor in Clearspring Technologies.

Chris has spent the last 27 years working with Fortune 500 businesses and high growth companies. This experience provides a unique perspective toward developing communications products and strategies that takes into account a completely new marketing and media environment.

Earlier in his career, Chris held executive positions at innovative media/technology ventures such as Worldcom-funded Retail Sports Television, where he was CEO, and Miller Freeman, where he was Group Publisher and Young & Rubicam where he was an Account Executive.